We Are Grand

I don't own anything you recognize.

Prepare for anything and everything.

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Standoff. What did that exactly mean? Well, it would be quite a wonder if anybody remotely familiar with English didn't know what that particular word means but here we were.

Standoff, a stalemate or deadlock between two equally matched opponents in a dispute or conflict.

And in this conflict, there were two sides. There, on the left, the side that stood the two boys, still stuck-eyed at their newfound power and their newly-realized foes.

They stood side-by-side to each other, doing their own stances. Joff, for some reason, had manifested two guns on his hands, purple and black revolvers ready to rain lead on whoever pissed him off that day. Those unlucky folks who did were the nazi officers.

"Nice guns, brother." A shame that they may or may not be seeing them anymore in the living world. Considering that the nazis, swastika uniform and all, out numbered them by multiple times, about a dozen or so soldiers, that statement may have some truth to it.

"Yeah... I... Honestly. Ah... Can't... Hah. Hocus pocus. Moji, I think somebody up in those clouds finally heard your prayers. Maybe we can even go ahead and go there to thank them after this." Moji chuckled. He was kinda expecting for this type of thing to happen but not this soon. Definitely not this soon.

Oh, mom... Dad...

"God damn it. I can't let past thoughts bother me like that. I'll do it later." Moji was a special case. Well, not that special of an instance. We only had two to draw from after all. Instead of having a weapon or even an object that could used as a make-shift armament, he donned a new cloak with feathers on it.

It reminded him of Doflamingo.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

"Why can't I see a damn thing!?" Moji panicked. Luckily, he didn't go blind from the muzzle flash going off of Joff's guns bursting forth with no warning whatsoever.

He jumped back while covering his eyes with his hands, instinctually grabbing the air as the brawl commenced with Joff at the lead.

"Eat lead, you asses!" He was not brave. He did not take the lead, the charge towards victory and escape, because he was braver than a man named Fearless. He was the opposite, a coward.

Impact came in a brilliant black firework, purple flames rolling off the lightshow and scorching it's surroundings. It's detonation was not what you would expect from a simple custom handgun.

It destroyed an entire house and laid destruction upon the buildings next to it. It caved the houses in and quickly catching the participants in this skirmish with a shower of rubble.

Recovering, equal to the grace of a swan landing in a lake, Joff unleashed a barrage of blasts at anywhere he could aim at, excluding the ground around him. He already felt singed enough as it was.

Through repeated bombing, close to dozens of meters of land and housing were burnt to ashes with rubble somehow overflowing the area.

"Blegh. Joff. What in the bloody hell happened?" Moji picked himself up and away from the ground. He was roughed up, scratched and suffering a headache or two.

He was almost livid, seeing Joff nearly blast an entire hole in him. Fortunately for him, his cloak was alive and practically a ripoff of Doctor Strange's red wizard coat. Or should it be Sorcerer?

"Hah, I am not complaining... If that's all I have though I will be complaining." He began to take steps, shaky and ever so slowly.

It wasn't hard to see where Joff. Especially him laying in an patch of open ground where the destroyed materials were the least congregated.

"Hey, wake up man. We need to get out of here. I don't know how we got these magical items donned the moment we got grabbed by those fucks but we can talk about it later." As the being turned around as slow as a snail, reacting to Moji's hand on its shoulders, he realized that dude under him wasn't the cowboy in dire need of training.

"RAAAAAGHHH!!!" Amazingly, his ears didn't bleed. The only thing that bled out of him was a burst of rage, a clenching of teeth and fists could be heard from miles away.

Nobody knows the exact details. Not even Moji, or Joff, or the man he was about to vaporize into the aether knew what happened. He grabbed the very air itself, whirling as ferociously as the Nemean Lion, and put the round tornado into the attacker's head.

Bzzzzz.

Concentrated. Deadly. And an attack that didn't have its main component of damage be the explosion but be the hypersonic wind sphere that ripped away flesh bit by bit until nothing was left.

The winds were large. It had towered over the houses and could multiple of them buildings inside of it. Moji visibly widened his eyes to dinner plates.

He was currently standing a crater deep enough for it to be classified as a pond, large one at that. He would be proud of himself if there were actually others to see it and not these shambling things.

"Did I just do a Rasengan?" It felt amazing. Clouds of doubt, shock and terror fleeting away for the sun to bless his soul.

He smiled before gaining an epiphany that Joff might have gotten caught in the blast zone. He dropped his smile and began to breath a little fast and harder than before.

"Joff!" He shouted up to the heavens and all the surrounding landscape, uncaring for who he angered with such actions.

"Where are you? You can't be die like that easily, right?" He maneuvered all the rubble away using his ability.

He put the wind on his hands, holding it up high in the sky like fighting dreamers. All ashes, dust and debris created from the grinding were sent away to someplace else.

"Why is the fog... No. Later. Joff! Hello?" It didn't look good. After clearing up the rubble as best as he can, Joff was still harder to find than expected.

"Agh... That hurt alright. Don't worry, Moji. I am as good as ever." Back then, he felt the soothing sun. Now, he felt the refreshing rain of relief.

At the edge of the destruction, he saw Joff dangling over a building he just got smashed into by his own guns. He snorted in good-natured mischief. That's what he gets for raining rubble all over his new clothes!

"How's it hanging?"

"Oh, come on now, that's a low blow."

"I know. I know. So, I don't doubt that there are more of these things on their way to us right now. Do you want help or do you want to walk thus off on your own?" Moji offered.

"Nah. I think I can manage." Joff bit out before lowering himself to ground-level, stretching his back as the force of the launch were shook off second by second.

"I think I will feel that for a while." He grasped his back with a pained look on his face. He can't blame him.

"Hm. Enough... Oh, yeah, we aren't free running on rooftops today it seems." That honestly made them more downtrodden than the truth that they were dropped off on some random killing grounds for those beasts that would fit in a portfolio of a mad scientist.

"Heh. Buddy, you really believe that after we got a blessing in literal weapons... We won't get secondary powers? Hah! We don't need to parkour in the sky. We can skip around like a rabbit on the ground just fine." Their moods were lit up once again.

Spirits lifted, they made their way to areas they deemed less wealthier than the architecture they were used to when they arrived. It could only make sense if the way to out the city were hinted to be the areas less-developed.

After all, the outskirts of a city weren't usually labelled as the center of a city.

If their past actions were loud teens talking it out, this would be an exploding multi-kiloton grade explosion.

Winds smashed against their faces as they bounded down and up the streets like bunnies injected with a mix of steroids and sugar in supersonic speed.

They saw many, many blurs of gray structures go past them like a fast gust of wind. There were mach cones and booms forming from their backs as they accelerated.

"Damn, how large is this city?" It was only a couple seconds of going at neck-breaking speeds but if they were some degree of supersonic, they could travel a kilometer a second and everything still looked the same.

"Ah. Gak!!!" They were stopped dead on their tracks. Joff got smacked face-first into an invisible wall while Moji's cloak saved him from the majority of the impact.

They fell down like puppets that got their strings cut. "Why is this happening to me?"

"Ah... Hem. Let's hope this doesn't turn into a running gag." Joff rubbed his nose, blindingly red similar to that of a clown. Hell, you could probably squeeze it and make such a sound.

"Dude, I don't want to alarm you but it seems we're stuck." Moji knocked on the invisible, immovable air around them as Joff adopted a look of horror.

"Damn it! Who is doing this? Are there really magician versions of those creatures?" It was quite a terrifying possibility to entertain.

Heck, there were no confirmation of those enemies to be an elite force of the nazi regime. For all they knew, it could be fodder to weaken their target's defences.

And as the cube of air became visible and slowly rising into the air, so did the possibility of the matter.

"Get behind me. Joff." Moji stepped in front of Joff and readied both his arms, grabbing reality itself with the result being a globe of fast, shredding winds on his hands.

Joff pulled out his big iron. "If we end up in separate afterlife, I want you to remember me as a best friend, alright?"

Moji nodded, and grinned. "You say that like I won't do that already."

Silhouettes. While they weren't as many as the shambling monstrosities back then, they still had quite the number on their group.

And despite being only seen as a sheet of black people, it was clear that they also weren't those things back then that assaulted them. It was human.

Wait, it couldn't be...

'Someone... We aren't alone here!' Joff eyes bulged out of their sockets and would have smacked the other side of the window if he was beholden to cartoon physiology.

Moji had a similar a reaction, just less shocked and moreso happy, "Fuck yeah! We're no all alone out here! Is this... Is this how a burning dream feels like..."

"I assure you. This is not a dream. We are in great mortal danger." It sounded robotic. Mostly because it really did came from a metallic source.

They couldn't believe at it at first but reality soon told them to accept it or screw off.

Right there, on the building's top was a protogen. "Haha, very funny, God." Nobody there remembered who said it.

Yeah, there really was. There really was a protogen. That was somehow the weirdest thing they found out that day. And they recalled, one dude on their group of friends had a certain liking to fur.

"Hah!!! Godu, is that you?" Joff shouted out before Moji could even utter out a syllable. And the group all reacted to it in their own unique ways.

Godu, the man that was turned into a robot, recognized them also. "Hah?! How do you... Oh, it's... Impossible... I know that thing told us. There are two people that will arrive tomorrow. But, I didn't think it was you two."

The others murmured their opinions to each other. It was absolute gibberish to the two but they can decipher that they were probably wary if this was an illusion or not.

"You believe us to be real, right?" Moji sat down, gathering energy up and into his body while Joff put his back on the wall as lax as ever.

"Of course, Moji. How could they not? We're the real deal on top with our powers." Joff positively buzzed away with happiness.

And Godu only frowned. Someone else's voice popped up, a female elf that acted as the healer of the group, "I am afraid that I have to answer no. Devils are tricky, you know? Show us a thing or two that the real Hoff and Moji would know."

"Huh? Hoff? I thought your name was Joff?" Hoff blinked. He was dumbfounded as any other that would have had their ears graced with that particular statement.

"Dude, it's always been Hoff. Are you alright, my guy?" In the distance, you could hear a crow fly by and leaving three giant dots in the background as the animal itself disappeared.

"...You act weird like that again and I might just kill you myself, Joff."

"Awawa! Get me out of of here! I am trapped with a crazy person." Moji grew a visible red mark on his head at the words. He moved to smack the senses back into the scrambling man but stopped.

Inherently, these type of antics probably did help them gain Godu's trust. And so, he stayed his hand from twitching.

For the time being.

"The time. Is ticking away. Please, if you two. Are the real deal. Do not fail. Us." It was a dreadful set of words. Moji shrugged.

Yes, he shrugged. Why would he be worried after all? Tell the memories you made while hanging out with them was an easy task for Moji. Joff on the other hand...

"Um..." He was as clueless as ever. It was a theory that he had short-term amnesia but no one ever bothered to confirm that fact.

Moji chuckled. "There was that one time I failed to do an rpg redux. Heh, failed in quotation mark because I was lazy, and I said that I had a brand new, good idea in mind... Hey, what's the odds that I would have created the same idea as this one?"

Godu shook his heads. What? Was that not specific enough? Did he have to bring up everyone's dirty secrets or something? Not that he knew anyways.

'This could be a problem.' Moji scratched his chin, looking back at Joff he was doing the same thing he was doing.

Hm...

What to do?

What to say?

Oh, could he use that?

Perhaps. It was worth a try.

"Ah, that. Yes, this is embarrassing to say out loud. But, I am an avid reader of Latias' Journey. I am pretty sure I pestered you guys to read it and all." It was not because of it's quality it was recommended.

It was just... Legendary. In all things. Bad and good.

"I don't know if I am. To smile or not." The invisible, immovable air in front of Moji was dropped as Godu snapped. He was giddy as he joined his unrelated brothers and sisters via jumping to the roof.

Onwards from that moment, everything was clearer than ever before. It was even clearer than an ocean-blue, sunny day.

There were eight of them and that included himself and the one still stuck in the box of invisibility.

He remembered and recognized every single one of them easily as the mist dissipated around them.

Monchichi was a weird mix of cat and fox? Was it a palico? He didn't really think that whatever Thalia actually was, was a beast from Monster Hunter.

Godu was a protogen, a cool one at that. He was utterly clean of filth, dirt and unwanted colors. His fur a perfect, synthetical white fibre that as far as it extended grew bluer and bluer. But, that certain friendliness (child-friendliness if you dare) betrayed...

None of his features.

Except for his voice and only his voice, the voice that originated from him came from a corpse yet in reality it echoed from the most jovial glowing blue face you will ever see.

Sorin was a pirate.

Feoline was a ninja. Wait, Feo was female. Kunoichi was the right word.

Fritzen was a healer or some sort of priest.

And finally, Kirakaze was ripped straight out of Metal Gear Revengeance and dropped into this reality. Of course, this wasn't true...

To their knowledge but he himself in soul, mind and spirit were birthed right from our little, normal planet of Earth, the pale blue dot.

"Wah, Ji!" Monchichi, upon learning the truth of the matter, rushed into Moji's surprised but still somehow awaiting arms and their super-extra hug produced a loud shockwave.

"Oof. Jeez, your strength is beyond me. How can something so adorable be so strong?" And then something bit him. Yeoch.

Wait, what did bite him? Monchichi? "Ow! God damn, I know this body's not yours but you're already growing to be a fine furry it seems." Monchichi giggled as she decided that she need not Moji's assistance in getting down.

She ran away. It was as if she was holding up a line. And then he noticed that floating book of hers that she toyed with. "Oh, that a magical book?"

"Hn. Well, a book is an overstatement. It's nice to meet you again man. It's been a day since we last someone with a familiar face." Fritzen was prim and proper, following the plan to a T. She had a staff forged in nature and knive-ears, an elf.

"Same here. I... Woah, yeah, that is a weird feeling. We can talk about existentialism later, right?" Fritz nodded.

"Where did you arrive? When did you arrive? And who did you arrive with?" Fritz asked him a question, a lot of it.

Frankly, he didn't like answering answers. "Sigh, I will share them later with the group... Where is Joff..."

Huh, he noticed. The air in front of him may have had been opened up by... Whoever opened it up. In Hoff's case? Nope, terribly not.

"I thought his name was Hoff?" Fritz added.

"Probably..." He eyed up and down Hoff's form. He was really struggling to recall a single word from before they were sent here.

He would visibly sweat drop but something else was doing the opposite. His fear was rising. This would be a problem.

"Hey, you do know that the real one also wouldn't know what to say in this scenario right?" I offered a tidbit of information that might have went unnoticed to Godu.

He agreed? "We're waiting for him to say I don't know. Or that he plays Call of Duty Mobile with us a lot." And the fear went away as fast as lightning bolt.

"I don't know!" Joff frustrated out.

"Wasn't expecting anything else. That's what we're waiting for! We can speak after we have reached our base. Move! Move! Move!" And without somebody else to rule, everyone obeyed the first one who did.

"Haha, last one to finish is a rotten egg!" Somebody masculine. Somebody adventuring. It was hard to detect at first but Moji realized it was Sorin.

Wow, he really became a different person. "And no shadow travelling bullshit either!"

"Aww... I still could slap you in the back though." And the voice was unknown to him. It was female and that was it. Somehow, that made it easier to puzzle out.

'That was Feo.' Hoff screamed out before Moji carried him with only a hand, attaching itself to the collar of Hoff's brand new shirt.

"Get up, cowboy. Or do you need a horse to help ya with that?" Moji jumped to where the others had ran. It was the rooftops, and perhaps that dream of theirs weren't all lost.

"Let me off. Let me off!" And he did so absent-mindedly. Joff instantly reoriented himself as quickly as possible and began to catch up.

"Enemies up ahead! Watch out!" Not without problems. This was going be one long day.

Sigh, couldn't the world just simply go back into normalcy? None of this were favored over good ol' counting our meager days left on this Earth.

'Ah well, at least we have some cool new powers now.'

To be continued.

A/N: I will release only a thousand words per chapter. I will go ahead and make a new one. And then fuse the new one and the old one together when I deem it fit long enough.

Chapter Done.